After
by PandaBear14
Summary: After a horrific disaster, and in the midst of a nuclear war, Kurt and Blaine lose each other in the wastelands of the world. If there is even the slightest chance Blaine is alive, Kurt will find him. He has to. AU Klaine with some other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, people of earth. First Klaine fanfic, don't judge please, just review & give me tips! I hope you enjoy it, it's also my first tragedy fic. **

**Enjoy and happy reading!**

**Love, Panda. **

**Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like I own Glee? Hell no, people. I wish. Hey! I have an idea! Get the magical purple unicorns to give me Glee! I think not. **

Kurt looked across the bleak landscape. Somewhere, somewhere out there, Blaine was perhaps peering at the same sun that now stared him in the face, nearly blinding him. He needed to find him. He couldn't remember life without him, not life without Blaine, his rock, his companion, his best friend.

He vividly remembered the day they lost sight of each other. It was the day after, the day after most people lost their lives, and most of the rest inhaled large doses of the poison.

People were fleeing. Their cars creaked against the road lined with rubble and soot, their bicycles clattered against the trash of people that had passed before them. Dead bodies, the bodies of people that just didn't make it, laid by the side of the road. Blaine and Kurt held tightly to each other, trying to navigate their way to the train station. They had gotten there and pushed their way to the crowd, past the mothers screaming for their children, past the people desperately trying to wave to people in the ever departing trains. "Kurt," Blaine stopped in the middle of the crowd. "Stay with me." Kurt remembered nodding, saying that he would never leave him, never in a hundred thousand years, never in a million years. Then he kissed him, hugging him as tight.

It would be their last kiss.

They then held hands and ran to catch the train, the one that they had tickets for, tickets that would be their way to safety. Kurt jumped onto the train a second earlier than Blaine, and clutched his hand to pull Blaine, too, into the train car. But an overeager, middle aged, balding man jumped into the train, wrenching Kurt's hand from Blaine's. Blaine was carried back by the crowd as the compartment closed. Kurt shrieked an earsplitting shriek that seemed to pierce the ears of anyone within earshot. I love him, he thought. I love him and I can't live without him. Then he frantically tried to stop the train, tried to get the conductor to stop. No one listened. No one cared. No one stopped the train.

Kurt numbly stepped out at the next stop and walked the twenty miles back to Westerville. He arrived at the train station only to find it empty, swept of every human existence. He later learned that a sniper had been there and shot madly around, scattering the crowd. No one had been killed, though many had been hurt.

Kurt made his way back to the modest home that he and Blaine shared. No one was there. It was completely still. He stumbled around, looking for any sign that Blaine had been there. On the kitchen table lay a letter, penned in that careful handwriting that was Blaine's. It read:

_Kurt, _

_If you're reading this, then you must still be alive.I had to leave-too dangerous here, right by the bombs. Kurt, the troops are advancing. I would have died if I stayed here for much longer. I didn't try to abandon you. I hope you know that. I left for Washington D.C. They have an evacuation program there. I will find you. I promise I will. I will find you, find you or die. I love you. Remember that I love you, no matter how long we are separated, no matter how far you go or how far I drift. _

_Blaine. _

Kurt didn't remember much after that, except stumbling into the street and sitting down and wailing as loud as he could. A young woman came out of a house and sat down next to Kurt. Kurt buried his head into her shoulder and sobbed loudly. The woman looked around for anyone else, for any lone soldiers, and rushed Kurt into her house.

Her name was Quinn Fabray and she was raising her young child by herself. She had a husband, Noah, and he was a marine, as she proudly declared. She showed him a picture of him, and brushed away a tear as she thought of him. She asked Kurt where he was going, why he was crying. He answered with only one word: Blaine. Blaine. Blaine. Blaine. Quinn asked who Blaine was. He answered he was his true love. Quinn smiled and seemed to understand.

Kurt was in denial for the first few days, never eating and sleeping very little. Beth, Quinn's young child, was sweet to him and seemed to want to cheer him up. Kurt couldn't be comforted, however, and insisted he needed Blaine.

Quinn announced one day, completely out of the blue, that she wanted to accompany Kurt on his way to Blaine. He inquired about Beth.

"Well," she responded thoughtfully. "I can just strap her onto my back or something. Didn't Sacajawea do that?" She laughed, though it was clear that she was exhausted. Kurt laughed as well, though his eyes had dark circles under them, his hair was long and tangled and his already lean frame seemed gaunt. It was time to leave.

They stole quietly out of the house, only pausing to feed Beth and for Quinn to look back at her once happy home. Then they climbed into Quinn's car, an old Toyota Minivan from the days before the war. Kurt stayed huddled in the back seat, praying to a God he didn't believe in that Blaine was still alive, that Kurt would find him, that they would be reunited.

It took long to drive. Mud had taken over the streets, and the roads were filled with people fleeing. Twenty miles took twelve hours, and it was decided to simply get out of the car and walk to their destination. It wasn't that far. Quinn took Beth on her back, and though she at first wailed, Beth soon got used to the hardships of the road and giggled happily as they staggered towards Washington D.C. with hundreds of thousands of other people beside them, each as hungry, exhausted and filthy as them.

Kurt dreamed again the second night they were on the road. His dreams were shady, but he was happy he had them again, for the lack of them had uneased him. He dreamed of dark deals, of runaway trains and of mutant songbirds, all trying to kill him. He dreamed of a dead Blaine, and dreams that had long sunk into oblivion. He woke the next morning with a startled stomach and wet eyes. He missed the boy with the heart eye patch, the boy that had stolen his hear, that boy that had patched it up after it being torn apart so many times. He missed the boy with the gelled back hair, although Blaine had taken to letting his hair flow his natural course in his later years, he missed him playing his guitar ever so softly as Kurt tried to sleep.

He missed his Blaine.

**First installment of AFTER in place. Reviews are amazing! Reviews inspire me to upload faster….so R&R or alert! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for all of the alerts and favorites! So, because response makes me happy…here I am again, writing when I'm supposed to be doing homework. Oh well. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, they would sing more showtunes So no. **

**Chapter Two**

Life was hard. Kurt had nearly given up hope of finding Blaine, but he knew that he wasn't the only one who lost someone. It wasn't impossible to find him, why at this time in a week he might be lying in Blaine's arms. He convinced himself he would find him and didn't even entertain the thought of Blaine being lost and gone forever. They met other people on the road-some friendly, some kind, some mean, some just plain irritating. One of those irritating ones was Rachel Berry.

They had met Rachel on their third day on the road. She was loudly declaring that everyone should follow her because obviously "she knew best, she's a Jew, you know". She prattled on and on about her talent and her obsession with a singer that was pre-war. Kurt immediately was irritated at the mere sight of her and her loud, obnoxious mouth, not to mention her clothes.

"I would love to give her a makeover." Kurt said to Quinn one day in a bleak attempt at lifting her spirits. Quinn simply smiled with a vacant look in her eyes.

"She dresses like a toddler and a grandma at the same time." At this comment Quinn fell over in a heap of giggles, looking at Rachel and her dads, two kind but utterly hovering men, one tall and black, and one small and rather geeky looking, with an amused expression. Rachel introduced them to one Finn Hudson, with whom she was obviously enamored with. She spent most of her time basically running after him, giving him unnecessary compliments and parading around proclaiming that she was talented. Finn obviously had no feelings left for her and instead spent his time pining after Quinn, who even though her countless exclamations of "I'M MARRIED, DICK!" was, according to Finn, no match for his "lady skills." She found him, simply said, dumb.

Thus, they continued, following the crowd, meekly wandering about the countryside with no way to go and only following the mob of people crazed with panic and fear.

Then it happened. The sixth day after, there were cries of "Bomb! Bomb!" and everyone scattered. Kurt ran with Quinn and Beth, and the Berrys and Finn followed in close pursuit. There was a an impact, and Kurt struggled to stay on his feet. Quinn swayed and fell. Kurt made a mad grab for her, and succeeded in catching Beth. Then, a crash.

Silence.

Night and silence, who is here?

It was smoky. Kurt heard coughing, and vaguely wondered if it was him. He felt Beth stirring against him, and could see Quinn rising up to stand. He stood shakily, dusting off his jacket and handing Quinn her baby. He heard wailing, a screaming moan of pain and anguish that could only come from one source- Rachel Berry. He crept up beside her only to see the charred remains of her dads and Finn. It was a gruesome sight. Half of Finn's skull had been blown off, and blood was pouring out. Her dads had obviously been hit by the fire that accompanied the bomb, and their muscles were torn and their bones, black with soot, were sticking out.

Quinn screamed, and that scream joined the screams of other people who had lost loved ones in the bomb, the dozens that were at the wrong place at the wrong time, the ones that had probably been most innocent. Quinn covered Beth's eyes in an attempt to shield her young daughter from the horrific sights that were surrounding them, and Kurt simply held Rachel, who wailed as if the world was coming to an end.

Quinn spared less mercy for the girl, but simply looked at her, hugged her once and said, "Let's get you cleaned up." It was automatically decided that they could not leave her, could not abandon her like so many others had abandoned people with injuries, and Kurt simply helped Rachel to her feet and led away, away from the remains of her parents and the boy she loved.

They had lost orientation. Kurt would later wonder if it was smart to do so, but he simply pointed in a random direction and said: "Let's go that way." That way was a completely wrong way, and it would lengthen their journey by at least a few weeks, if not months. Quinn was too tired, Beth too young and Rachel too depressed to argue to they simply followed his lead and trudged on. It was like walking with zombies. Everyone that they encountered was tired, dead, injured or too traumatized to look at someone, never mind actually form a conversation.

They soon realized that the idea to simply go somewhere was needless to say, stupid. There was no way to know where to go. They were lost, and there was no way out other than to follow the stars and the sun and to hope that they would miraculously lead Kurt to his love.

They were lucky, Kurt realized later on, lucky that no one died, lucky that they were not incredibly weak with hunger, lucky that they always found water.

Quinn awoke one morning to smell smoke and see a fire burning. She sent Kurt to see what was going on, and too tired to argue, he nodded his agreement and set out to find out what the cause of the disturbance was.

He walked softly in the direction of the fire he saw burning and nearly tripped over someone lying on the ground in front of him. Cursing his bad luck and klutz, he backed up and surveyed the scene in front of him. Lying in the dirt was a woman with dark brown hair, uneasily sleeping, and next to her lay a man with incredibly curly hair and a lean frame. A few feet away an impossibly short woman (how old was she, twelve?, Kurt wondered vaguely) that had curled herself up like a kitten and seemed even smaller in that position.

Kurt poked the woman right in front of him, trying to wake her, and shrank back as she sat up wildly and looked around.

"Who are you?" She spat, venom filling her features as she looked at Kurt. "Are you here to kill us? Tell me!"

"No…no!" Kurt stammered, desperately trying to calm the older woman down. "Look…we were missing food, and just wanted to know..I guess if it was you."

"What are you accusing me of?" The woman seemed to not be able to calm down, and Kurt hoped he would get out alive.

"Nothing, nothing ma'am…" Kurt was terrified.

"I am just trying to feed my group, okay? I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Will is getting so skinny-" She pointed at the man who was still sleeping-"And April isn't looking too good either!"

"Sorry…" Kurt stuttered. "It's alright…"

" We just needed the food! I'm sorry!" And the woman, so fierce the moment before, began to sob loudly, rocking back and forth.

Kurt was awestruck. How could someone go so fast from being intimidating to being so incredibly vulnerable? He leaned forward and hugged the woman, while she sobbed onto his shoulder.

After a while, the sobbing stopped, and the lady-what was her name?- sat back with red-rimmed eyes. "I'm so sorry…" her voice trailed off as she sniffed.

"It's okay…" Kurt felt nothing but pity for the poor woman. What had she gone through?

"It's just….so hard…." She hiccupped. The others began to stir at the noise, and the man with the insanely curly hair sat up.

"Shelby? Is everything okay?"

"Yes….." But it was obvious that she had been crying. "Uh…What's your name?"

"Kurt." Kurt responded automatically.

"Kurt. Yes. Uhm…Kurt, this is Will." The curly haired man-Will- waved and eyed Kurt.

"Hi, Kurt."

"Hello…" Kurt was slightly wary of the man. He didn't like trusting people who were stronger than him. The insanely short woman came over and hugged Shelby, and she also eyed Kurt with distrust.

"Who're you?" The woman asked, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder. Kurt immediately had to think of a helium voice as soon as he heard her speak.

"I'm Kurt."

"Well, Kurt," the blonde woman said, "What are you doin' here?"

Kurt looked at Shelby in hopes for an answer, and Shelby replied: "He was checking if we stole his food."

The blonde woman's face dawned on realization. "Oops." She laughed, a giddy, hyper laugh that made Kurt think of a hyperactive twelve year old. "I'm April." She held her hand out for him to shake.

"Hi…" Kurt said slightly confused, but nonetheless obliged and shook April's hand.

Shelby seemed embarrassed. "I'm so sorry Kurt, about the food, I'm sorry…"

"No," Kurt said, "I understand. We're hungry too…just…don't take our food. Alright?"

"Okay, Kurt, listen, we-" Shelby was cut off by Rachel storming near and screaming at Kurt.

"Kurt, where were you? We are both so worried, really! What do you think you're doing? We only asked you to quickly check if anyone's here, and the operating word in that sentence is quickly! We were both so worried, and poor Beth started crying because of you! Now come back here right now or I'll-" Rachel's rant was cut off only when she realized that there were others in this part of the forest .Her face paled as she saw Shelby.

"Mom?"

**A/N: Yes, I did just add Shelby, April and Will. Yay! Tell me if you like my style. This is the first thing I've tried to write that's Klaine, so I'm not sure if I'm putting waaay to much fluff in Reviews are awesome, and they do wonders for inspiration...**

**Love, Panda! **

**reviews are awesome and they make me happppyyyyy :)))))))**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! I am so, so, sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but I have an excuse that's going to come out in one really long run-on sentence so be prepared, kay? Here we go: My dad was working on my computer because he had to use it for some paper he was writing and he accidentally disabled it somehow and so when we finally got it re-abled (is that even a word? Who cares) all of my documents were gone and so then I had to restart my entire chapter and I had exams and…and…*passes out from lack of oxygen***

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Glee. What did you expect?**

Shelby stared at the girl, her mouth open in shock. Could this really be the same girl? Could it be her daughter that she had abandoned at birth and again in high school? She scrunitized the face, the long, matted hair. She was thin, her already lean form tiny. But the face, the mouth, the nose, and especially those eyes were indeed Rachel's. It was her.

Shelby stepped towards the girl, reaching out, but Rachel stepped back, a wild look in her eyes. She shook her head once, and turned around, fleeing the scene.

Kurt paused a moment, then sprinted after Rachel, trying desperately not to trip over a root or a tree trunk of some sort, all while shouting, "Rachel! Rachel! Finally, he found her, curled up against a tree. "Thank god," Kurt breathed, "Thank god I found you." He sat down next to Rachel, kneeling down in the dirt and looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Rachel snorted. "What kind of a question is that?"

"You're right." Kurt laughed softly. "I'm sorry."

"Oh please." Rachel said, and the two lapsed into an uncomfortable silence until Kurt broke it.

"Well…are you?"

"My mother-my _mother_- marches back into my life after, oh, two years after abandoning me _twice. _How, may I ask you, am I _supposed_ to feel?" Rachel spat, not looking up from the ground.

Kurt could sense a full out Rachel rant coming on, so he chose not to answer and simply let her speak.

"And so now that she's back, I'm probably never going to see her again, so this is just wonderful." Rachel turned away from Kurt and began to cry.

Kurt sat quietly, hoping for some idea on how to calm the poor girl down."Shelby and the others-what are their names? Oh, yes, April and Will- they can join us. We can go together."

Rachel looked up. "What?"

Kurt grinned. "You heard me."

"But..but what if she doesn't want me? Oh God, what if she leaves me again? What am I supposed to do?"

Kurt had to think of something before Rachel slipped into hysteria. "Rachel! Rachel, look at me. Listen to me. That's not going to happen, alright?" Rachel nodded. "Let's go back." Kurt stood up and offered his hand to Rachel, so giggled as he swung her up. They arrived at the camp to the sight of Shelby frantically pacing back and forth while April and Will desperately tried to calm her down. As soon as Shelby saw Rachel, her face paled.

"Rachel!" She ran up to the two of them. "Oh, Rachel, Rachel, I'm so sorry, baby, I'm sorry…" She was nearly hysterical.

"Shelby?" Rachel said quietly. There was no response. "Mom?" At this title Shelby's head snapped up and she stared wordlessly into Rachel's eyes. "Can we talk?"

Shelby nodded as Rachel led her away from the rest of the group. April, Will and Kurt watched them go with wary eyes. After Rachel and Shelby left, April turned to Kurt.

"Well, that's that."

"What do you mean?" Kurt was slightly confused.

"Well, we're almost guaranteed to be stuck together for the rest of this trip, or whatever, so I suggest we at least all learn to get along."

Kurt smiled. "I have no problem with that." And in truth, he didn't. Though the blonde had seemed slightly irritating at first, he now was at least indifferent to her. They began to talk about this and that, a light, breezy conversation about simple things. Soon, Will joined in, and the three were talking like old friends when Kurt remembered Quinn and Beth. "Crap," he muttered under his breath and excused himself for a moment, sprinting back to their camp. He found Quinn and Beth lying in the dirt, asleep. Kurt breathed a sigh of relief.

"Quinn, honey, wake up." Kurt shook Quinn lightly, and the girl opened her eyes.

"Kurt?"

"Yes, it's me. Wake up. I have some people that you should meet." After quickly explaining the situation, Quinn was up with Beth and they were walking back to where April and Will were sitting. When they got back, Shelby and Rachel had joined them, and after proudly announcing that yes, they would be traveling together-it was decided that they needed more food.

"We're almost out, and now that we have more people, we need to have a better food source," Quinn explained to the rest of them. "We need to find it."

"I'll go," said April, standing up and stretching. "Anyone else volunteer?"

Kurt thought, what the heck, and volunteered as well. And so as the rest set up their camp for the night, Kurt and April strode through the woods in search of some nourishment.

"April?" Kurt asked her as they were trying to find mushrooms, "How did you end up here?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's your reason? Why are you here, running around with a ton of people trying to survive?"

April sighed, as if she had been expecting this question all along. "I was poor. Dirt poor. Dirt poor and an alcoholic, and I acted like a whore on top of that. So, when the war started, I…I was trying everything to survive. Penniless and starving. Just running. And then I met up with Will and Shelby, and they were nice enough to let me stay by them, nice enough to let me stay. So that's why."

"Really?"

April looked ashamed. "Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"It's just that…ya know? I wish I could have gotten off to a better start. In life, I mean. Do you get it?"

"Yes," Kurt said. "Yes, I do."

After they had gathered enough food to last them for at least a day or so, they quickly walked back to camp and cooked the food.

Dinner was a fun affair, with Rachel and Will telling everyone stories of their Glee days (apparently Will had been Rachel's teacher) and with Shelby telling everyone of her days coaching Vocal Adrenaline, one of the toughest show choirs in history. April entertained them with her chipmunk impression, and Quinn held Beth as she tried to talk.

Soon after dinner, the sun went down, and it didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep. First, Beth slept, Quinn followed soon after. Rachel curled up in a little ball near the fire and was out with Shelby. April and Will stayed up later talking to Kurt, but soon he was the only one awake, poking at the glowing embers of the fire with a stick and mentally talking to Blaine.

Blaine? Blaine, are you there? Blaine, I love you, please be there…..

Without realizing it, Kurt fell asleep. His sleep was uneasy, his dreams dark. They started out light, happy…

_ Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love_

_ We can dance, until we die_

_ You and I _

_ Will be young forever_

_ That first day where Kurt met Blaine, Blaine grabbing his hand as he pulled him down the marble staircase, his angelic, heavenly voice echoing in his ears. _

_ And their first kiss, first date, first time….it had been all so, so perfect. _

_ Don't cry for me Argentina…Kurt's first solo as a Warbler…their life together._

_ And the less happy times, that idiot Sebastian, how Kurt longed to punch his all-knowing face in…_

_ The arguments in college….the money problems….the lights…the rent.._

_ Yet somehow they had prevailed, something they still were together…_

_ And then the dream changed into something dark. Kurt heard screaming, and crying._

_ "NO! NO! PLEASE! LET ME GO!" And an evil laugh. With a start he realized the screaming had been Blaine's. _

_ He ran down the dark corridor, past doors filled with torture instruments, with crying children and screaming babies, and with the gruesome sights of blood and organs lying around. _

_ Tortured, crying, sobbing, lying there was Blaine. Except it wasn't Blaine, wasn't him, with his features so gruesomely distorted, so different-_

_ Blaine-or was it some monster version of Blaine that was somehow not him, not his?-pulled a knife out a child's body and stuck in into Kurt's. Kurt felt nothing, nothing at all, just horror at the scene in front of him. _

_ Blaine grinned evilly, but it wasn't him anymore…there was no resemblance, just a gruesome, gruesome figure out of some horror movie….And Kurt was falling, falling down, away from the torture, away from Blaine. And Kurt…..he…_

Woke up.

Kurt realized he was shivering as he sat up and looked around. No one around him was awake. The sun had just begun to peek up, and Kurt breathed heavily as he realized he needed to get some air, go for a walk-whatever, he could not stay in one spot.

He walked around in the woods, reaching a cliff set into a hill and sat on it, dangling his legs over the edge as he watched the sunrise. And in that moment, he made a decision.

Blaine, he thought, I will do anything to find you again. Anything. I don't care who I have to kill, or who I have to get rid of- I will find you. I promise.

**I swear my other chapter was so much better, but the ...FILES so there's nothing I can do about it. Sorry. **

**REVIEWS ARE AMAZING AND THEY MAKE ME UPDATE FASTER **

**Love, Panda. **

**P.S. Please don't hate Kurt. He's just in shock. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Yep, it's me again. Yay *cue the sarcastic clapping* Because I got a ton of story alerts and favorites last time, I have decided to give you another chapter of After as soon as possible. So here ya go!**

**There's hate speech in this chapter, and some language. And just a warning, it gets kind of dark, some MCDs, etc . **

**Oh and by the way, I know **_**nothing**_** about medicine, so don't expect this to be too correct. **

**Disclaimer: I think I'm too young to own **_**anything, **_**let alone Glee. And don't you think I wouldn't be on fanfiction? I. DON'T. OWN. ANYTHING.**

And so the journey kept on, with their little group nearly falling into routine. Wake up, gather their limited belongings together, breakfast, or if there was no food, no breakfast, walk. On the second day after meeting the other three, they realized they had been walking in the entirely wrong direction, away from Washington D.C., where they had originally wanted to go.

Among the road, they saw the path of destruction that had torn through the company. The roads were littered with things left behind, and every now and then they encountered the gruesome stench of dead bodies. Kurt saw things he would wish upon no one, ever, but they carried on, wishing to reach the place where they would have safety.

And they saw incredible cruelty as well. Mothers would push their children out of the way in order to get food, husbands abandoned their wives when they became too weak to carry on, and a man named Commander Karofsky, who was in charge of a lesser regiment for some soldiers on their way, would sporadically shoot people who weren't keeping up correctly, or for some other reason had offended him. He was the person that disgusted Kurt the most.

They saw sacrifice. A young Latina girl, Santana, and a tall blonde who Kurt learned was named Brittany, were walking side by side as Karofsky approached them, shaking his fist angrily at the two of them. Kurt leaned closer so that he could hear what he was saying.

"You queers don't deserve to live!" Kurt couldn't believe his ears. The man was not only incredibly cruel, but homophobic as well?

"Now listen here, _hijo, _don't tell me if I deserve to live or not!" Santana looked very, very, mad. Kurt didn't blame her.

"Screw you fags. You all deserve to die!" Karofsky said and raised his gun, preparing to shoot the blonde girl standing idly next to Santana.

"NO!" screamed Santana and flung herself in front of the gun, taking a bullet for the one she loved. Kurt felt rage. Indescribable rage. His face felt hot, and he felt his body shaking as he approached the commander, too angry to really know what he was doing.

"You bastard!" Kurt said to the back of Karofksy, who turned around a looked at Kurt.

"You another one of those fags? You another one?"

"Why do you care? All I know is that you just killed an innocent girl for no reason whatsoever."

"Fags deserve to die." Karofsky said and turned away from Kurt, who tapped him on the shoulder and, as Karofksy turned around, hit him as hard as he could in the face.

"Fuck! What the hell?" Karofsky's nose was dripping blood, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"That was for Santana." He slapped Karofsky again. "And that was for being an ignorant, homophobic bastard. Now get out."

And Karofsky, still in shock, stumbled back to his men, many of which gave Kurt a grateful smile over their commander's shoulder. Kurt smiled back in return.

Karofsky never tried to kill anyone again, at least near Kurt, who in turn kept his distance from the man.

Rachel and Shelby had bonded over their life-threatening situation, and April was proving to be one of the best friends that Kurt had ever had. Will kept his distance from Kurt, Rachel, and Quinn, mostly talking to April and Shelby, but he was kind enough and Kurt could at least tolerate him. Beth had started to speak, her first word being, "Daddy," which surprised Quinn as Noah was still overseas, fighting for freedom in a land unknown.

Quinn seemed exhausted and sick, tiny, and ill, her youthful features turning older as she fretted about her daughter and her husband .It was even worse for her, Kurt thought, because she knew where Noah was and that he was in great danger at all time, while Kurt at least had the blessing not to know if Blaine was in danger.

Kurt wondered if she would live to see the end of their walk. As the days passed, Quinn's condition grew steadily worse. She began to cough up blood, and ran a high fever for a day. It seemed to get better, though so the group pushed on, eager to get to Washington, and, as Kurt hoped, Blaine.

"Kurt?" Quinn asked softly one day as they prepared themselves for another day of walking. "If I die….will you take care of Beth?"

Kurt nearly dropped his satchel as he heard Quinn's pessimistic words. "Quinn, you're not going to die."

"Just in case….please?" Quinn was begging him. Kurt couldn't refuse.

"Alright Quinn, I promise."

Quinn died three days later.

Rachel held her dead body and sobbed, while Kurt simply sat next to her body with a bowed head and grieved silently, too much in shock to cry or even make a sound. Beth sat by Quinn, her already growing hair limp. Kurt grabbed the girl and set her on his lap, and finally gave into his tears as he held the now dead girl's daughter in his arms.

Quinn was buried under a cherry tree with beautiful blossoms. Kurt stood sobbing, blaming himself, hating himself, and as Rachel, Shelby, and later April tried to comfort him, he would shove them away, muttering to himself, "I deserve it. It's my fault." And he felt it was. It was his idea to keep pushing that had exhausted the girl, his desire, his mad, psychotic desire to get to Blaine that had eventually killed the person that was still only a girl. Kurt sat huddled on the ground and looked up as Beth came crawling towards him. Kurt looked at Beth and croaked out, "Beth, I'm so, so sorry…" but Beth only stared at him. It seemed to Kurt like she was blaming him too.

Kurt cried himself to sleep that night. His already tattered soul felt like it was shredded.

For the first time, he wondered if living, if surviving, even to find Blaine, was worth it.

**I know it's kinda short. Sorry about that. See you next time and happy reading!**

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